Old, not dead!

Today's Herald Scotland includes a wee extra magazine called '50 plus'. I have a feeling whoever put it together isn't 50+ and hasn't really got much idea what to make of that age group.

For a start, there are a helluva lot of us in the 50+ age group these days. I'm even alarmed to see that some of my former students will shortly be joining this group (you know who you are!). Some of us are in excellent health. Some are active and outgoing. Some expect to be working for another 20-30 years. Some have already had their health ruined by hard physical labour and by bad habits (as my friend TT used to put it when reading statistics, some of us are 'broken down by age and sex.') A lot of us are drawing a state pension these days and I'll take this opportunity to point out yet again that us pensioners are the biggest charge on the state's Social Security bill, not the unemployed. Some of us feel the need to put back a  bit of what we're getting out.

The front cover of the Herald magazine has Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue still working but looking, I'm afraid, like 90+ or me on a bad day with the gut problems (still going on, thank you for asking). Inside the magazine there are the usual ads for fashion, easy-rise chairs, mobility scooters, holidays, home helps, lawyers who want to make your will, retirement villages - all the things someone at the Herald thinks us well-heeled pensioners are interested in. But also, mirabile dictu: a couple of pages on volunteering.

About time, I thought! There needs to be more space given in the media to opportunities for older people to give their time and expertise back to the community. A lot of us 50+s have the time. I volunteer with the very elderly (mostly 85+ in age) and have pals who give their time to work with the Parkinson's Society, Glasgow libraries, Age Concern, as computing tutors in East Ren, in charity shops and museums, etc. We love it. If I have a reservation, it's really the continuing lack of recognition that there are a lot of very isolated elderly and disabled people in our community - and a lot of other people well placed to befriend them if they are given the chance.

But the Herald only had space for two items about volunteering, neither of them of much appeal to most of us: Voluntary Service Overseas and the WRI. So just in case you fancy volunteering and wonder what else is available, have a look at the Volunteer Scotland website:

http://www.volunteerscotland.org.uk/

Excellent website. It's hard to believe how many cracking opportunities there are out there. Volunteering keeps you young and gets you meeting fabulous people. Try it!